Navy rescuers recover two more bodies

KARACHI - The diving teams of Pakistan Navy have completed the rescue operation after the recovery of last two bodies of the victims drowned with 36 other picnickers.The incident occurred on the first day of Eid on Tuesday while the rescue operation began in the wee hours of Thursday by the three teams of Pakistan Navy comprising two boats and two Sea King helicopters. Pakistan Navy divers, in three days of rescue operation, managed to recover 34 bodies while remaining bodies were recovered by the local rescuers of welfare organisation. Rescuers managed to recover at least 36 bodies on Friday evening. The operation resumed on Saturday morning and during the search operation, the Navy divers managed to recover two more bodies.The bodies were recovered from Sea View and Keamari. They were shifted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medicolegal formalities. Families of the victims identified the bodies which included Hamza Anwar, 12, resident of Korangi and Noor Muhammad, 15, resident of Pirabad.Hamza went to Sea View with his paternal uncle Sabir. Both of them were drowned while the body of Sabir was recovered on Friday. The victim Noor Muhammad came there to celebrate Eid with his friends. Navy spokesman said the four-day long search and rescue operation had successfully concluded. Pakistan Navy called it off after the civil administration thanked for its tremendous contribution in aid to the civil power. Following the incident, Pakistan Navy swiftly responded to the request of civil administration and launched grand scale search and rescue operation by mobilising its resources. The operation involved Sea King helicopters, PN diving teams, speed boats and zulu boats. PN Sea King helicopters with diving teams onboard have been deployed for extended duration during the entire operation. They recovered the bodies from 10-15 nautical miles radius.Karachi Commissioner Shoaib Siddiqui said the operation had been completed as no other complaint about the missing of the bodies had been received. Siddiqui thanked the Navy for tremendous cooperation of Navy diving teams during the operation. He said few of the bodies had yet to be identified while remain were at the mortuary. It is worth mentioning here that some of the relatives of the victims are still looking for their loved ones but the administration believed that the bodies at the mortuary, which were unidentifiable, would be handed over to the families of the victims after DNA testing. The inquiry committees, formed to probe the negligence of the authorities, have yet not presented their reports to the authorities concerned.